Hurricane Irma strengthened and made landfall in Cuba on Friday, while thousands of residents of Florida in the United States were ordered to evacuate, Reuters reported. The storm has killed 21 people in the eastern Caribbean and left catastrophic destruction in its wake.

Irma struck the Camaguey Archipelago with 260 kmph winds late on Friday, the National Hurricane Center said in an advisory. It hit Cuba as a Category 5 storm – the centre’s most powerful designation.

Around 50,000 tourists are fleeing or have fled Cuba, with resorts in the north coast now empty. Irma, one of the fiercest Atlantic storms in a century, is expected to hit Florida on Sunday morning.

As the storm hurtles towards Florida, 56 lakh people – 25% of the state’s population – have been told to leave, the BBC reported. About 90 lakh people in Florida may lose power, some for weeks, said the Florida Power & Light Co, which serves nearly half the state’s residents.

Historic evacuation of Florida

With the storm barreling towards the United States, officials ordered an historic evacuation in Florida that has been made more difficult by clogged highways, gasoline shortages and the challenge of moving older people.

The US has been hit by only three Category 5 storms since 1851, and Irma is far larger than the last one in 1992, Hurricane Andrew, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

“We are running out of time,” Governor Rick Scott told reporters. “If you are in an evacuation zone, you need to go now. This is a catastrophic storm like our state has never seen.”